New York City (February 15, 2003)—I was
among the 500,000+ anti-war demonstrators who
took a bite out of the Big Apple Saturday
to protest Bush’s oil war.
Although we were all there for the peace
rally held near the United Nations, I was stuck with
thousands of other Americans as far as
two miles away from the speaker platform. That was as
close as we could get due to the number
protesters massed in the streets.
The frigid Manhattan city streets were
lined with NYPD police cars, vans, and busses with metal
grids in the windows (all the better to
haul away arrestees in). Officers initially attempted to keep
protesters on the sidewalks as we headed
toward the UN, but I had the impression that the police
were completely unprepared for the enormous
throng of people converging for the rally. After all,
protesters had been denied a permit to
march and the threat of winter storms and terrorist attacks
should have kept most of us cowering in
our homes watching CNN or FOX, I suppose.
Before long, though, the number of protesters
grew so large that we had no choice but to spill into
the middle of traffic on 2nd Avenue where
I was. As we took control of blocks of Manhattan,
protesters chanted, “Who’s streets?
OUR streets!”
From what I understand, police in riot gear
did try to block the “illegal” march somewhere far ahead
of where I was. For a long time protesters
stood in the cold street with police helicopters hovering above
and people playing local Pacifica station
WBAI’s coverage of the protests on handheld radios. As police
on horseback waded through the crowd, American
flags, earth flags, large doves made out of sheets and
balloons fluttered in the icy wind.
Placards expressed a wide-range of anti-war/anti-Bush opinion:
“Draft the Bush Twins.” “Deport John
Ashcroft Before He Deports You.” “The World Says No to War.”
And my favorite: Under a photo of
Bush a caption read, “Empty War Head Found In White House.”
Eventually, though, the police stepped aside
and the march proceeded as the roar of protesters echoed
around the towering skyscrapers.
One officer who had been assigned to direct the flow of vehicular
traffic could only laugh as he walked along
with us. He said: "Well, you guys got your march and you
didn't even have to pay for it either."
Police were also trying to block off side
streets along 2nd Avenue and I saw two separate altercations
between officers and protesters at two
of these points. In the first incident a group of four or five police
wrestled a guy to the street and handcuffed
him. I did not see what caused the takedown, but a man
with a tape recorder was going around asking
witnesses to tell what they had seen so he could file
charges against police.
In another instance police arrested a woman
for breaching their barricade.
As protesters heckled police and told them
to let her go, other demonstrators continued to cross the
barricade much to the officers’ chagrin.
Exasperated, the officers there finally abandoned their post
with protesters knocking down the wooden
planks of the barricade and flowing, some even dancing,
down the street.
The police had the last word, though.
They eventually had us all cordoned off in pens in the streets
before we knew it. Some protesters
pushed against the barricades where I was and a few got through.
One person in the crowd with a bullhorn
was trying to incite the crowd to remove the barricades and
reclaim the streets, but the scene remained
peaceful while I was there.
There are reports of over 300 arrests and
instances of police brutality on nyc.indymedia.org. I can't
confirm these reports. Fortunately,
like the officer who walked with us for a while, the cops I encountered
exemplified the words printed on the side
of police vans: courtesy, professionalism and respect.
The same vans that were parked alongside
all those empty police busses just waiting to be filled with
American citizens exercising their freedom
to dissent.
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